What Happened After

Prologue

"Where are my friends?"

Prologue.

     I didn’t ask for any of it.

     If I could flip a switch and have my life suddenly change to the way it was before that day, I would do it in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t even think about it. At the time I didn’t appreciate what I had as much as I should have. In reality, what I had was what most girls my age grow up dreaming of. I had a perfect boyfriend.

     And he really was, too. Perfect. He was exactly like me—happy and optimistic to the point that it kind of sickened people, extremely friendly—he was everyone’s best friend. They say that opposites attract, but when it came to Kaleb and me, it just wasn’t the case. I couldn’t have ever pictured myself with anybody other than him. Sometime around seventh grade, some sort of unspoken understanding was made between Kale and I that from there on out, we would simply be together. And that’s how it was. Nobody questioned it because we just fit. It was a common understanding that Kale and Rayn—that’s me—functioned as a unit, and nobody ever thought twice about it. I’m sure that we’d driven a few people crazy, what with our cheery demeanors and our can-do attitudes slapping everyone in the face on a daily basis. Kale and I worked hard to maintain our positions as Hidden Valley High School’s Power Couple. Kale was set to be valedictorian, something that I, even though I was a wee bit jealous, could not have been more proud of, and I was salutatorian. We spent the entirety of senior year writing, proofreading, and perfecting our speeches, and made sure no one caught a glimpse of the words we were writing. The speeches, like Kale and me, had to be perfect, and we wanted to wow our fellow classmates. And if we had made it to graduation, those speeches would have really knocked their socks off.

     Kale wasn’t the only thing I had that I should have thanked God for every day.  I had a wonderful, amazing best friend, who had been around since before Pre-K. Lauren was all I ever could have wanted in a best friend. While she was more of an artsy type, she was extremely supportive of my ambitions to succeed in school. She was never interested in gaining popularity. She was content to simply be “Rayn Wallis’ best friend.” I should have told her more often that she was so much more than that to me. Lo wasn’t just my best friend; she was my rock. I told her everything, things I couldn’t even tell Kale. Things about Kale.  She was the least judgmental person I knew, and I knew that every secret was completely safe with her. Lo was an all-around good person. She loved every person and animal she came across, and saw the best in everyone. She even saw some good in the school’s resident rebel-without-a-cause, Ruesso Van Avery, who after a lot of work, became her boyfriend.

     Before Lauren started showing any sort of interest in Ruesso, he had never been a person I paid any attention to whatsoever. I didn’t know that much about him, just that he drove a rusty old mint-green Ford Bronco and that he wore a lot of flannel. I didn’t see the appeal of him, but Lauren could not stop talking about the boy for an entire year. When they finally got together, nobody seemed especially surprised, besides me, and since I had never seen Lauren happier, I just left it alone. If Kale and I could be happy together without the judgment of others, then my other half, Lauren, deserved the same luxury.

     So we lived out our senior year like that—myself with Kaleb and Lauren with Ruesso, and we never missed a weekend together, gossiping about our respective boyfriends. Our friendship was stronger than ever.

     Graduation day was rapidly approaching, and I was in my study room putting the finishing touches on my speech. I knew that nobody really cared about the salutatorian speech, and that they were really there to hear the valedictorian, but I had fought hard for the title, and I was going to make them care about my speech, too. Mom and dad were out, and since I’m an only child, I was home alone. My concentration was broken by a loud knock on the front door downstairs. When I got down to the first floor to open it, I was greeted by the semi-familiar mint Bronco in my driveway, Ruesso sitting in the open driver’s side window, and Lauren rushing around to open her own door on the passenger side. Sliding back into the car, she poked her head out the window once more to shout, “Get in, Raaayyynn! One last adventure before we’re official high school graduates!” Ruesso slapped his hands against the roof of the car several times in a drumroll fashion, then hopped back in and started it up. I was about to say no, that I had work to do inside, but with a glance into the backseat, I noticed my very own Kale sitting behind Lauren with a sheepish expression on his face. If he was going to suffer through Lauren and her weirdo boyfriend’s antics, then I was not going to let him be a third wheel.

     I don’t remember where we were going, and I don’t remember if we ever got there. I don’t remember what song was playing on the radio, and I don’t remember what the weather was like.

     I do remember that I was on the driver’s side of the car, behind Ruesso. I remember that Kale was on the passenger’s side, behind Lo, and holding my hand over the middle backseat. I remember how dark it had gotten after a few hours, and I remember the bright light shining through Kale’s window, outlining his perfect, beautiful face for me.

     After that, I don’t remember anything other than white. White walls, white lights, white linens. I opened my eyes to a frantic nurse who seemed extremely relieved that I had awoken. I wish I had never asked my next question, the one that washed the relief right off that nurse’s face. The question that tore my life apart. The question that, maybe if I hadn’t asked it, then the answer to it would have changed.

     “Where are my friends?”